How mbg's Functional Nutrition Program Took My Health & Career To The Next Level

Like so many people, I struggled with my weight for years. Ever since I was a teenager, I was constantly thinking about food and how it affected my appearance. My weight would yo-yo as I went through periods of restrictive dieting and then bingeing. I always wanted to be "thin"—but I didn't have a road map for changing my relationship with food.

Finally, at the age of 50, I decided to invest in my nutrition education. I signed up to take the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) 12-month holistic health coaching program. This program exposed me to lots of new ideas and visionaries in the health space, from doctors Will Cole and Mark Hyman to Robin Berzin and Frank Lipman. It provided an overview of how to use food to improve your health—but I felt it really just scratched the surface, and I wanted to go deeper.

That's when I came across mindbodygreen's Functional Nutrition Training (formerly Functional Nutrition Coaching) program. It seemed like this flexible course explored how to use food as medicine in greater depth, with more access to leading health experts. I enrolled, and I'm so happy I did.

I found FNT to be much more rigorous than IIN. I used to listen to IIN modules while I was doing other things, like driving to and from work. I found all the program quizzes easy, and I got around 97% on the final exam. mindbodygreen's program was a different story: I would have to sit down in front of my computer in the evenings and on weekends to really focus on the material, which touched on everything from the best foods for mental health to the keys to a healthy gut. I would print everything out and spend hours studying for exams. All in all, it took me about six months to complete the program.

My favorite modules included the seven pillars of functional medicine taught by Robin Berzin, M.D., and a deep dive into the autoimmune spectrum with William Cole, IFMCP, DNM, D.C.

I've been a health coach for going on six years now, and I focus on teaching people how to shop, cook, and eat clean in order to achieve their health goals. mindbodygreen's FNT program has given me more credibility and confidence when working with clients.

I now feel like I can answer any questions clients throw my way. And if I don't have the information they need, I know where to find it. I also appreciate that when you enroll in FNT, you get lifetime access to all 660+ pages of the program's in-depth study materials. For me, these packets are golden. I printed them out and saved them on my computer so I can go back and reference them at any time to get really great, specific information.

I'm semi-retired, and I appreciate that as a health coach with a focus on functional nutrition, there are so many directions I can take my career. For the past few years, I've chosen to work one-on-one with clients, as well as taught webinars and live cooking demos for people and teams working to take control of their health. This work has been really rewarding, but looking ahead, I'm excited to expand my offerings a bit.

For starters, I'm hoping to create a new community for health and well-being conversations in the new year. I'm still figuring out exactly what this will look like, but it will be similar to a book club. Instead of discussing a novel, though, women will gather to talk about a health-focused book, podcast, trend, or idea in a safe and nurturing environment.

Mentoring others who are looking to move into the field of health coaching is a passion of mine. I'm also in the process of writing a cookbook that is a collection of my favorite recipes from the last 30 years of my life and what they mean to me. My relationship with food has evolved so much over the decades, and I'm excited to get it down on paper.

My goal is to create the compilation as a gift to my daughters—but if it ends up attracting a wider audience, that's great, too.